Chancellor John Healey is set to announce more than £1bn of new funding for social and affordable housing in next week's Budget, a move that could deliver up to 10,000 new council homes.
The additional capital investment will take the total funding for the Social and Affordable Homes Programme to more than £40bn over the next 10 years. The government also plans to help more councils borrow for housebuilding by extending preferential rates.
Treasury defends housing investment
A Treasury spokesman said: "For years families have been locked out of a secure and affordable home because we simply haven't built enough. The Prime Minister promised to restore the public housing stock."
"This Budget will go further on that ambition through significant investment in affordable housing and helping councils borrow to build so we can replace what has been sold and give people a place to live."
Housing crisis deepens
Since the 1980s, more than two million council homes have been sold through Right to Buy. After successive governments failed to replace them, millions of people have been left struggling to find a first home.
More than 1.3 million households are on social housing waiting lists in England, and only 12,250 social rent homes were delivered in 2024/25. A record 177,500 children are living in temporary accommodation – up 5% in a year.
Earlier this year, the boss of Britain's largest housebuilder, Barratt Redrow, said it is the toughest time for first-time buyers since the 2008 financial crisis. The average monthly private rent rose by 3.8% in the 12 months to September. House prices rose by 0.9%, to £273,000, having gone up 1.2% the year before, figures out this week show.
Government promises and reaction
PM Andy Burnham has promised the largest post-war council and social housebuilding programme, including the exemption of new builds from Right to Buy for 35 years. Housing Secretary Angela Rayner told the Labour conference last month that the government would cap "outrageous" fees for leaseholders and regulate managing agents behaving like "cowboys, crooks and con artists".
It was also announced councils will be able to take back empty homes after six months. Mairi MacRae, acting chief executive at housing charity Shelter, said: "As we head into winter, record numbers of children are stuck in homelessness in grotty temporary accommodation, while countless more families struggle to cope with soaring housing costs."
"With rents tied to local incomes, social rent homes are the only genuinely affordable option for many families, but over the last few decades, supply has plummeted. This funding injection is another important step in the right direction, but to deliver the council house building revolution it promised, the government must go further."
MacRae added: "The autumn Budget is the Prime Minister's chance to remove unsustainable housing debt from council balance sheets and truly turbocharge the delivery of social rent homes."
